Robert D. Oates, MD, Honored with Urologic Lifetime Achievement Award
Robert D. Oates, MD, FACS, professor emeritus of the department of urology at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and vice-chair of the department of urology at Boston Medical Center, is the recipient of the 2025 Society for Male Reproduction and Urology (SMRU) Lifetime Achievement Award. The SMRU is an affiliate society of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).
Robert Oates, MDAn expert in male reproductive medicine and surgery, Oates, who has been a urologist at Boston Medical Center (BMC) for more than 30 years, was recognized for his numerous contributions to the field of male reproduction.
Oates has presented at local, national and international meetings and authored the first papers on the intentional cryopreservation of epididymal and testis sperm, now a common approach in many in vitro fertilization centers. He also has been actively involved in clinical and laboratory research on the genetic basis of male reproductive failure, having directed the research leading to the first peer-reviewed manuscript linking congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens and pathogenic variants in the cystic fibrosis genes.
He served as the program director for the urology residency program for 13 and is now the associate program director. He is past president of SMRU and authored the definitive publication on the clinical aspects of a Y chromosomal AZFc microdeletion.
Oates collaborates with many top investigators nationally and internationally on numerous research projects involving male reproductive failure and Klinefelter syndrome. He has been named to Boston Magazine and Castle and Connolly’s Best Doctors in America lists for several consecutive years.
He received his MD from BU in 1982 and completed his residency at Boston Medical Center as well as one of the early clinical fellowships in male reproductive medicine and surgery at Baylor College of Medicine with world-renowned urologist Larry Lipshultz, MD.